National emergencies are common; declaring one for a border wall is not
WASHINGTON – When President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to free up funding for his border wall he will follow a long line of presidents dating back to George Washington who have relied on emergency authority to achieve a goal.
But experts say national emergencies have rarely been used in the way Trump intends.
Trump is expected to declare an emergency as early as Friday as a mechanism to unlock pots of federal money he can then use to build portions of a border barrier, a central promise of his 2016 campaign. He will also sign a bipartisan bill that sets aside $1.375 billion for barriers, far short of the $5.7 billion he has demanded.
Presidential emergencies often lead to bitter partisan disputes and occasionally wind up in court, but they are relatively common. The United States is already subject to more than 30 national emergencies, including one signed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter days after the Iranian hostage crisis began.
"They’re declared for all kinds of things," said Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor at Princeton University's Center for Human Values. "They’re absolutely common, which is why nobody blinks an eye about the whole thing – and then you get a case like this."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/15/donald-trump-border-wall-national-emergency-uncommon-u-s-history/2876638002/
Here's a list of the 31 national emergencies that have been in effect for years
According to the Federal Register, 58 national emergencies have been declared since the National Emergency Act of 1976 was signed into law by President Gerald Ford.
And 31 have been annually renewed and are currently still in effect, as listed in the Federal Register.
Here's a list of the presidents who declared still ongoing national emergencies.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/list-31-national-emergencies-effect-years/story?id=60294693